I trusted fellow pilot ‘wholeheartedly’, paramotorist tells fatal accident probe

A paramotorist known as the “human swan” has told an inquiry into the death of her fellow pilot that she “wholeheartedly” trusted him to keep a safe distance from her while in the air.

Sacha Dench was attempting a 3,000-mile round Britain by paramotor challenge when the aircraft she was flying was involved in a collision with one piloted by Dan Burton, 54.

Mr Burton died in the incident, which happened on September 18 2021, while Ms Dench survived but suffered serious injuries.

The expedition, which was named the Round Britain Climate Challenge, started in June and had been intended to highlight the issue of climate change ahead of the Cop26 conference, which took place in Glasgow later that year.

Climate activist Ms Dench had previously received acclaim for a similar expedition, recounted in BBC documentary Flight Of The Swans.

Giving evidence to a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) at Tain Sheriff Court on Monday, Ms Dench was asked about the expedition’s risk assessment, which included the requirements to carry emergency parachutes, and for pilots to maintain a “safe distance” from each other.

She looked aghast when Fiscal Depute Jemma Eadie asked if she and Mr Burton had ever not maintained a safe distance, saying: “Are you asking me that question?

“When we both hit the ground on September 18.”

Ms Eadie explained the “context” for her question was that video and photographs of the pair indicated that that “sometimes you and Mr Burton flew in formation”.

Ms Dench said there would be “no reason” for her and Mr Burton to be flying on the same “plane” while in the air, and that the pair had a “protocol” in place if Mr Burton ever flew behind her, such as when taking a photo.

She said this involved him “maintaining a safe distance” and her only moving if given an instruction to do so.

“I trusted Dan wholeheartedly to keep a safe distance, but because I couldn’t see what was behind me we had a strict protocol in place,” she said.

“There were probably six or seven occasions where that was the case on this whole expedition.”

Asked to define a safe distance, Ms Dench said “it would be difficult to put a specific number on it” and that it would be up to the judgment of individual pilots based on conditions on the day.

Ms Dench said both she and Mr Burton took video and photographs while in the air during the expedition, with her using the camera on her phone.

She said taking photos or video on her phone cut off her communications with Mr Burton, which relied on Bluetooth headsets, and also involved taking her hands off some of the aircraft’s controls.

She said before making a video she would therefore warn Mr Burton and “go off” some distance away.

She added she could not remember if she had filmed or photographed anything on the day of the crash, but said she might have done.

In the morning, Ms Dench’s evidence was interrupted several times while she broke down in tears, and at one point the inquiry was adjourned to allow her time to compose herself.

She told the inquiry she first met Mr Burton in about 2005 or 2006 during her time as a free diver and that the pair had started flying paramotors together around 2012.

They had previously flown together on the Flight of the Swans expedition and had also been planning a future paramotor expedition in Africa.

Asked for her assessment of Mr Burton’s level of experience with paramotors, she replied: “Highly experienced – potentially the most experienced expedition pilot I know.”

Ms Eadie asked Ms Dench about the planning and preparation for the round-Britain expedition, which the inquiry heard had originally been expected to last eight weeks.

Ms Dench said it was originally envisaged as a continuous “circumnavigation” of the UK, but that this changed to only doing “a few segments” because of the batteries in the paramotors’ electric motors only lasting 30 minutes at a time.

She said on the day of the crash the pair had been planning to land in a field “near Ullapool” and that the area in which they had both come down had not been the planned landing site.

The FAI previously heard some evidence during hearings in May last year and in January this year.

Ms Dench, an Australian, is known as the “human swan” for her adventures using a paramotor to follow swans migrating from Russia across Europe to the UK.

Mr Burton was from Devon.

The inquiry continues.